Not all humans are weaselly Weiners
For a change of place, I came across a bit of pure awesome RPG fiction over at Leslie Bates’s Living in the Surreal World. Go read the whole thing, but here are some of my favorites:
We poison our air and water to weed out the weak. We set off fission bombs in our only biosphere. We nailed our god to a stick. Don’t fuck with the human race.
We drink poison too, and derive enjoyment from the temporary malfunctioning it causes in our higher brain functions. The higher the toxin level the greater the beverage; diluting the toxin with water is severely frowned upon.
Humans are so hardcore their first innovations were ways of making killing easier. Don’t mess with homo sapiens sapiens.
Humans consider one of the greatest career paths available to be piloting conveyances that use explosions for thrust.
The human capacity to change is fascinating.
I myself have witnessed a human military officer, who is tasked solely with the purpose of abusing his subordinates until they bond, take a group I suspected of severe genetic ailments – excess fat tissue, panic during crisis situations – and turn them into the perfect murder machines that we have come to know and fear. We have long suspected that humans in their homelands are weaker than those we regularly encounter, but it is clear that even the weak ones can become dangerous with minimal effort.
I would not advise an invasion of any human-controlled system at this time.
Not just good advice…take care not to tease the apes. They will fling more than poo when angered.
Just one more, from the page Leslie got the source material from:
“I once met a Human at a waystation on a Class 1 world. It did some kind of rough work for one of their colonies. It called itself a “search and retrieval expert” but I’m guessing the translation software couldn’t find the proper words. A few weeks later, it returns to the waystation, sans its trans-grav (rented, I might add). Apparently the people it was hunting took down its transport, but it continued on foot after escaping the wreckage and patching itself up. The scary part was that it was wearing clothes fashioned from Tharge pelts, had its targets’ ears on a necklace (DNA proof, I guess), and had fashioned a spear from a jagged piece of the trans-grav’s hull and an Iron-root. And it was honestly none the worst for wear, just sauntered over to the AENet terminal and collected on its kills.”
R.I.P Jeff Conaway
Jeff Conaway, who played Zack Allen, the troubled Security Agent who ended up being Chief of Security on Babylon 5, died on Friday.
Conaway was also known for some other work he did in some musical and a TV sitcom, but IMNSHO, his best work was on Babylon 5.
Thank you for sharing your talent with us Mr. Conaway. Rest easy beyond the Rim.
Monday Book Pick: Flaming Zeppelins
Flaming Zeppelins by Joe R. Landale
A nifty little farce combining multiple historical and fictional characters in a series of adventures, complete with cross dimensional rifts to stir the pot a bit. Reminded me of lot of Philip Jose Farmer’s writing as various fictional authors, with just a dash of Robert Heinlein’s The Number of the Beast thrown in for good measure. The cast includes Annie Oakley, Wild Bill Hickock, Buffalo Bill Cody’s animated head, Mark Twain, Jules Verne, Martian invaders and more. That includes Ned the Seal. Ned doesn’t talk, that would be silly. He does write a lot on a notepad he wears on a chain around his neck though.
Friday B-Movie Pick: Looker
Ya, it’s Friday the 13th, but I’m going to skip the obvious horror film selection, and go with this Michael Crichton classic from 1981. Sort of a SciFi suspense/thriller about your average Hollywood plastic surgeon getting caught up the murder of beautiful young actresses/models. It has a good cast, which includes James Coburn, Albert Finney and Susan Dey.
SciFi Quote of the Day
The life of a Browncoat is filled with pain and bitter remorse.
Monday Book Pick: Go Tell The Spartans
Go Tell The Spartans by Dr. Jerry Pournelle and S.M. Stirling
Part of Pournelle’s Condominium series, and more specifically part of the Falkenberg Legion series. An excellent read in the Military SciFi genre, and a damn good primer on low intensity conflicts as well.
SciFi Geek Bonus Points: The first mention of “Major Falkenberg” and the “Falkenberg Rifles” isn’t in a book by Mr. Pournelle. Geek points for identifying which Military Sci-Fi book does.
Sunday SciFi: Babylon 5
Very good, nay, excellent SciFi. Especially for TV. This show wasn’t just SciFi, it was Space Opera in the best sense of the genre.
Grand sweeping story arcs over five seasons, great battles; personal, man to alien, and large fleets of space craft battling for control over this corner of the galaxy.
Much, much better than the Star Trek knock off of Babylon 5. Yes, gentle readers, Star Trek: Deep Space 9 was a cheap knock off of Babylon 5.
The B5 pilot aired first, even though Paramount rushed ST:DS9 to the small screen before the B5 series was approved and made it to the airways. The best ST:DS9 seasons were the ones where they did what B5 did the season before. The ST:DS9 “creative” team even hired the same actor B5 used the season before in appear in what was essentially the same role. The B5 team found this out when they tried to bring the actor back to reprise the role and found out he was over at Paramount filming a DS9 episode. JMS responded by killing off the character and replacing him!
Five full seasons, plus a handful of made for TV movies. Enough to keep you busy for a while if you enjoy really good SciFi.
Monday Book Pick: The Mote in God’s Eye
The Mote in God’s Eye by Dr. Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven
One of the classics of Science Fiction by two of the best “Hard Science Fiction” authors out there. This was their first collaboration and for extra bonus points, they had it vetted by the Grandmaster of Science Fiction, Robert A. Heinlein.
Monday Book Pick – Special Double Volume Edition: To Your Scattered Bodies Go & The Fabulous Riverboat
To Your Scattered Bodies Go & The Fabulous Riverboat by Philip Jose Farmer
A double hit by one of my favorite authors. The first two books in his Riverworld series are back in print in a single volume. To Where Your Scatter Bodies Go was my book pick way back on 9/7/09, but I saw that it was back in print today. It’s worth the repeat, especially combined with The Fabulous Riverboat. This is one of the grand epics of Science Fiction and certainly worth the read to any student of the genre.
Friday B-Movie Pick: Doctor Who: A Christmas Carol
I’m a Doctor Who fan going back to the early 80’s when I was watching the Tom Baker episodes on the local Community College public access channel. The new series does Christmas specials every year, and I have to say, IMNSHO, that this is the best Doctor Who Christmas special yet. They set the bar very high with this one.
This is my second “Christmas Carol” pick.